Bug Breakthrough

Reported March 2007

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- When you think of a beetle, you think creepy, crawly critters. Now add one more adjective to the list: Clever -- clever because despite living in the desert, the beetle is able to gather drinking water.

"The beetle is able to gather, out of this very light fog, enough water to survive -- to take a drink every morning and survive to live another day," Robert Cohen, Ph.D., a chemical engineer at MIT in Cambridge, tells Ivanhoe.

The Namib Desert beetle has dueling surfaces on its back. The smooth parts repel water, while the top bumpy parts collect water.

MIT materials scientist Michael Rubner, Ph.D., says that pattern motif creates this incredible ability to gather and harvest small drops of water from the fog. As fog rolls in, the bumps on its back trap water. As the droplets get bigger, the water then rolls down into the beetle's mouth.

Scientists are trying to mimic this idea by dipping glass into solutions of charged polymers, imitating the porous and smooth coating of the beetle. The material is then coated with a Teflon-like substance, making it water-repellent.

Their next step is to add an antibacterial agent into the coating that may be used on common hospital, kitchen and bathroom surfaces to stop germs from spreading. If all goes well, the beetle could possibly stop germs in their tracks.

"What we're very interested now is the possibility of adding more chemical functionality to what the beetle has taught us," Dr. Rubner says.

There is also promise of creating larger-scale pieces of water-repellent material that could be used to collect water in arid climates. The scientists say the key is creating dueling surfaces in areas where water is present, but hard to collect.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Materials Research Society
Warrendale, PA 15086-7573
(724) 779-3003
webmaster@mrs.org

Michael Rubner, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
(617) 253-4477
rubner@mit.edu

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